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dutch rabbits

22 9:51:53

Question
I have 3 dutch rabbits and the 2 girls have 1 brown eye and 1 blue eye the  boy has 1 brown eye and half a blue half brown eye.Do you know why that is? I have a black/white,grey/white and a brown/white.

Answer

My Bunny Tinkerbell
Are you sure they are Dutch?  The vienna gene causes rabbits to have markings that appear to be Dutch but they are not.  Now the other question is your gray/white actually a gray or a blue and is your brown/white a chocolate or a gray (agouti).  Blues (which are grey and white) can have blue/gray colored eyes but they should be the same color on both eyes.  Dutch occasionally have marbled colored eyes and this is a disqualification in competition but it does not affect them as pets.  

I have the sneaking suspicion that because of the mismatched eyes that your Dutch are probably not Dutch at all but rather some breed that has blue eyed whites and when any rabbit is bred to a blue eyed white there is a 50% chance that it will be a vienna carrier which is where the mismatched eyes come from.

This site shows photos of Dutch with some breed history:

http://www.verlannahill.com/AboutDutch.htm

This article explains the vienna gene:

http://www.freewebs.com/olddixierabbitry/viennagene.htm


This is a vienna marked Netherland Dwarf

http://www.freewebs.com/trinacooke/Jake%202.JPG

This is a vienna marked Mini Lop notice the blue eyes.

http://southyorkshirerabbits.co.uk/images/DSCF0068.JPG

This is a vienna marked Mini Rex

http://www.doublelrabbitranch.com/images/VM_3-09.jpg


Now here is the link to the Dutch club and it shows all recognizable colors.  Keep in mind that just because there are only 6 recognizable colors that doesn't mean that more colors wont show up.  For example if you breed the chocolate to a blue and then breed them back you will end up with some lilacs.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=blue+dutch+photo+rabbit&view=detail&id=A257D...

If you can attach some photos of your bunnies I can give you a better idea of what they are.  

Good luck

Pam